BIOL 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Great Chain Of Being, Alfred Russel Wallace, Georges Cuvier
29 Aug 2016
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Charles darwin published the origin of species. The origin of species focused biologists" attention on the great diversity of organisms. Darwin noted that current species are descendants of ancestral species. Evolution can be defined by darwin"s phrase: descent with modification. Evolution can be viewed as both a pattern and a process. Aristotle viewed species as fixed and arranged them on a scala naturae. Old testament says that species were individually designed by god and therefore perfect. Scala naturae=on a latter of increasing complexity; linear. Carolus linnaeus interpreted organismal adaptations as evidence that the creator had designed each speices for a speicfic purpose. He developed the binomial format for naming species and a nested classification system. The study of fossils helped to lay the groundwork for darwin"s ideas. Fossils=remains or traces of organisms from the past, usually found in sedimentary rock, which appears in layers or strata. Paleontology=the study of fossils: largley developed by french scientist georges cuvier.
